


Encounter on the Upper Balcony

by more_than_melody



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: F/M, Royai - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:07:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28142106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/more_than_melody/pseuds/more_than_melody
Summary: "What is it about this man that demands such loyalty from you?" he asked. Royai. FMA/FMAB
Relationships: Riza Hawkeye/Roy Mustang
Comments: 4
Kudos: 46





	Encounter on the Upper Balcony

_Hold onto your fishing line_

_I can feel the future just fine_

_I can feel the future, baby_

_it's tumbling down your cheek_

* * *

Riza sat overlooking a large drawing room where many senior officers of the Amestrian military had gathered for a conference. The lower room only had one door, with guards posted outside, but the upper balcony could be accessed by many rooms that ringed it, several connected to the sprawling halls of the military complex. Not the safest location for a meeting, but the grandest, and to Brigadier General Clemin, that was more important. Not to mention that this room might be the only one that could accommodate so many people comfortably.

She had taken up a post on the upper balcony to ensure the safety of those gathered below – one man in particular. _Although he didn't know it, wouldn't know it, couldn't know it, because he always behaved more recklessly when he knew she was there to guard his back._

_For a moment she is so focused, listening for the thread of that one voice among the many that she doesn't notice someone approaching._

"What, they trust you enough to guard their backs but not enough to include you in their discussions?"

The voice – a man's – that comes from behind her is condescending and sneering, derisive. Another lieutenant, who had been in her training group when they had first joined the military. Second lieutenant, not first, she gathered from the bars on his breast, but she could not remember his name.

_No, not his name, just trekking through the hot sand, choking clouds on the horizon and this man bitter and complaining the whole way, eager for the battle -_

She just shrugged, not moving from her place on the bench. He sat next to her _–_ _he smelled strongly of aftershave, not the dark pleasant scent of –_

"Or is it that you're only useful from a distance?" he asked. "You always were a remarkable sniper."

_still was, although at least here in Central she had the luxury of choosing her targets_

"Lieutenant Dane, you forget yourself," she said, his name coming unbidden to her lips. _Dane, like the great hounds_ , _large and affectionate and physical –_

He placed his hand on her knee. "Isn't the military a hard life for a woman as-" _Beautiful?_ "practical as you?" he asked. He didn't move his hand but she felt its weight, heavy and warm and sweaty on her knee.

She pushed it away.

He laughed and settled back against the wall. His presence was hulking and intimidating, dark haired and hawk nosed with cool, brown eyes. So similar in color to hers but with none of the warmth or compassion. "What are they discussing today?" he asked. "More Ishvalan refugees to deal with?"

"It's not your business, _Second_ Lieutenant," she replied.

He snorted. "You think the other officers will be so discerning?" he asked. "Within a few hours everyone in this complex will know what's the cause of this meeting and I'll have someone else to thank for the information."

The way he said _thank_ sent shivers up her spine, but she kept her gaze cool and blank.

She looked down into the room to where Mustang was sitting, lounging idly in his chair in the heat of the debate. He looked bored and uninterested, but she watched his eyes - _sharp like dark steel and just as brittle, hard enough to take a sharp edge but so easy to break, shatter, splinter -_ flit back and forth, following the thread of conversation and she knew that he understood what was taking place better than half those who were on their feet in a fit of passion or outrage.

Beside her, Dane followed her gaze to her black haired commanding officer. He snorted softly.

"What is it about this man that demands such loyalty from you?" he asked. "I don't see any of the other officers aides hovering over them so protectively."

It was true – the upper balcony was empty but for the two of them and a young man bearing away a stack of papers to be filed.

"It is the military that demands my loyalty," she said. "To uphold the oath I swore upon my initiation. An oath you swore as well."

_Not that her oath was the thing that kept her here. There was no path forward except for this one, no way for her to absolve herself except this, a constant hurtling toward eventual destruction._

Dane looks slightly chastened, but her mind is not on the unpleasant man next to her, whose breathing is loud, his thigh too close to hers on the bench. No, it is another -

_It was impossible to untangle herself now, they had been in this for far too long for that._

For a moment, his laugh cuts through the other voices and her breath catches in her chest.

_He does not demand anything of me that I would not give him freely._


End file.
